CBA CEO Ian Narev remembers a senior figure in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party telling him about one of the major problems the ANC faced when it came to power after the end of apartheid.

A third of the population had little or no education and South Africa couldn’t wait for the next generation to be schooled.

“There was a lot adult learning that had to happen,” Mr Narev says.

He relates the discussion as part of explaining his concern about official figures that show nearly half of all Australian adults have low literacy and/or numeracy.

While CBA is known for its financial literacy work in schools, Mr Narev — speaking to News Corp Australia as a participant in the Generation Success youth employment initiative — reveals the $123 banking behemoth is exploring how it can help adults with “foundational” skills.

CBA leaders will discuss options next week.

Narev, 46, is big on education — he topped international corporate law at Cambridge.

But, he says, “you can learn from anyone”.

It’s an attitude he developed living in an Israeli kibbutz. As an 18-year-old he spent seven months in a communal settlement an hour south of Tel Aviv. His job was to collect eggs.

“You’d be walking round the chicken coop spraying the eggs to make sure they are all right and you’d be talking to people all the time, learning fascinating things,” Narev recalls.

“Some of the most wise people you meet have had extraordinary backgrounds and never gone near an academic institution and just have amazing experiences that you learn from.”

The kibbutz wasn’t really his first job. That came at 12 when New Zealand TV producers picked him to star in a miniseries, Children of Fire Mountain.

He won’t say what he earned each week — only that it was a lot. And that his dad kept it from him so that he wouldn’t waste it.

He confesses that when he did get his hands on the money, that’s exactly what he did.

His father Robert was a lawyer who worked in the same Auckland building for 50 years.

His mother Freda was a family counsellor who instilled in him an awareness of the importance of listening.

“We would have family council meetings, which I think was some experiment she was running at the time,” Mr Narev says.

“You’d sit down and talk about what was going on in the house. That was the listening environment I grew up in.”

Narev believes listening is a critical skill for jobseekers.

They “need to be able to listen genuinely, so they can empathise with customers, colleagues and the community around them”.

He also recommends that candidates do a lot of reading on the company they are applying to work for. If you don’t, you’re doomed.

“Finding out what’s in the DNA of an organisation ... is an absolute prerequisite. If you fall at that hurdle, it’s almost insurmountable.”

But perhaps Mr Narev’s most interesting advice is for those from difficult backgrounds: “Some of the most impressive people you meet, one of the reasons they are so impressive is because the challenges they have overcome. It’s often the X-factor.”

***News Corp Australia and Woolworths Limited have joined forces to launch Generation Success, an initiative to focus on youth employment. The unemployment rate among those aged 15 to 24 is now 12.4 per cent — more than double the overall national rate. Gen S brings some of the country’s biggest employers together to tackle the issue. Woolworths, Leighton Holdings, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Toll Group, Spotless and Telstra.

As part of the initiative, industry, government and youth sector leaders will come together in April for a youth employment roundtable discussion.

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